Pipe bending machine



Jan. 29, 1957 A. P. ANELLO 2,779,382

PIPE BENDING MACHINE Filed Sept. 17, 1953 United States PatentO PIPEBENDING MACHINE Anthony Peter Anello, Tampa, Fla. Application September17, 1953, Serial No. 380,721 4 Claims. (Cl. 153-48) This inventionrelates generally to force applying tools and it is directedparticularly to improvements in tools or machines for bending tubular orbar material.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a bending tooldesigned particularly for the bending or curving of pipes, moreespecially steel pipes or tubes, wherein a novel means is providedwhereby predetermined settings of the dies may be easily and quicklymade for bending the tube to a desired curvature.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a tool or machine ofthe above described character, a die adjusting or setting means which isdesigned in such a manner that resettings may be easily and quickly madeto produce exactly the same bend in a pipe or tube as may have beenpreviously made, although the setting of the dies may have beensubsequently changed or altered.

Still another object of the invention is to provide in a tool or machineof the character stated, an eccentric operated means for adjusting theposition of a pressure die with respect to a pair of holding dies andwherein, also, a novel means is provided for setting and locking theposition of the eccentric so that the adjustment of the pressure diecannot change accidentally.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent asthe. description of the same proceeds and the invention will be bestunderstood from a consideration of the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part of thespecification, with the understanding, however, that the invention isnot to be limited to the exact details of construction shown anddescribed since obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled inthe art. 1

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in top plan of a tool or machine constructed inaccordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section taken substantially be seen that themachine comprises a base structure which is generally designated 10, andwhile it may be of any desired form, his here shown as comprising twospaced parallel side beams 12 which have convergently arranged forwardend portions l4 which terminate in the short spaced parallel terminalportions 16. v The forward end terminal portions 16 of the base areconnected by a shaft or axle 18 which has mounted thereon a pair ofspaced elongate rock plates as shown, the shaft passing through theplates at the transverse center thereof.

Connecting the two rock plates 20, below the shaft 18, is a link pin 22,while the upper ends of the plates 20 are connected by a correspondingpin 24.

Upon the forward end of the base 10 and rearwardly of the rock plates20, the beams 12 have disposed there- 2,779,382 Patented Jan. 29, 195.7.

across and secured upon the top edges thereof the plate 26 which forms aplatform for the purpose about to be described.

.At opposite sides of the platform 26 there, are positioned the uprightpivot posts 28 which, at their lower ends, are welded to the inner sidesof the adjacent beams 12 as shown in Figure 3, wherethe weld isdesignated 30, while the posts extend upwardly through the platform 26to a substantial height thereabove as is also illustrated.

, Positioned upon the platform 26 are two movable holding dies ,32, eachof which has a suitable passage 34 formed vertically therethrough toreceive the pivot post 28. As illustrated, each of these dies has acurved channel 35 across the working facein which the tube or pipe Pp,shown in broken lines in Figure 1, is positioned and the holding diesswing about their respective posts 28 upon the surface of the Pl tform26 and. automatically adjust themselves to the proper position as apipe, disposed across their faces, is bent to the desired curvature.The, numeral 36 designates an elongate handle socket which is designedto receive a suitable handle bar, shown in dotted outline and designated37.

Secured to and extending longitudinally of the outer side of the socket36, are two spaced parallel flanges 38 which, at the ends adjacent tothe bottom of the socket 36, are suitably apertured to receive the shaft24 whereby the socket can be turned on the shaft 24 as will be readilyapparent. At the forward ends of the flanges 38 they have extendingacross between them the pivot pin 39 and this pin passes through one endofa thrust link 40, which rocks on the pin and extends forwardly overthe platform 26.

Supported upon the top of the platform 26 for sliding movement in a pathpassing centrally between the holding dies 32, is a pressure die 41which has formed across the workingface the convex channel 42 whichengages a pipe between the holding dies, as will be readily, apparent,

The back of the die 41 has a socket 43 into which the forward end of thelink extends and this end of the link is pivotally coupled to the powerdie 41 by the pivot pin 44 as clearly shown in Figure 2.

Secured to the underside of the platform 26 and extending rearwardlybetween the frame beams 12, is the rigid arm 45 which, at its rear endis provided with a suitable bearing opening toreceive an end of aneccentric shaft 46, the opposite end of the shaft being mounted forrotation in a side beam 12, as illustrated in Figure 1. Y

Adjacent to the side of the arm 45 which is nearest to the side beam inwhich the outer end of the shaft 46 is mounted, the shaft carries twospaced collars 47 and between these collars the shaft has mountedthereon the eccentric 48 which is secured by a key 49 to the shaft, asshown in Figure 2. j

The numeral 50 designates the eccentric link, which has its forward endprovided with a suitable aperture to re.-

. ceive the shaft or axle 22, while at its rear end it is secured to theunderside thereof as shown in Figure 2. j

formed to provide the eccentric strap 51 which encircles beam 12 andwhich is supported intermediate its ends by a vertical bar 52 which iswelded at its lower end to the adjacentbeamlZ and rises within the frameto be This arcuateframe is provided with a longitudinal series ofcircular openings 53 which are interconnected by the slots 54, the widthof which is, as clearly shown in Figure 1, materially less than thediameters of the openings 53.

The shaft 46 passes through the radial center of the arcuate frame 52and carries the adjusting arm 55 which, at its outer end is of reduceddiameter to form the terminal stem 56. This terminal stem is of adiameter slightly less than the width of the slots 54 so that when thearm is swung around the axis of the shaft 46, the stem will move fromone opening 53 to the next.

The reduced end portion of the arm, that is the stem 56, extends into acylindrical head or knob 57 which, at its inner end is formed integralwith a collar 58 in which the stem 56 snugly positions. The outer end ofthe knob 57 is open and the end of the stem 56 has secured thereon, by ascrew 59, a washer 60. Surrounding the stem and compressed between thewasher 60 and the bottom of the hollow knob 57 is the coil spring 61which constantly urges movement of the knob 57 inwardly on the stem.

The collar 58 at the inner end of the knob 57 is of a diameter to fitinto any one of the holes or openings 53 and when in one of the holes itlocks the arm 55 against turning movement.

In the operation of the present tube bending tool, the amount of bend orcurvature given to the tube will be determined by the setting of theeccentric 48 by which the plates 26 are rocked so as to shift theposition of the pivot shaft 24 either forwardly or backwardly to therebygovern the extent of movement of the pressure die 41. However, in orderto provide a clearance for the placing of a pipe length on the plate orplatform 26, relatively to the dies 32, the die 41 is drawn in theforward direction by swinging the handle bar 37 and the socket 36upwardly, following which, the handle bar and the socket are lowered tomove the die 41 against the plpe.

When it is desired to turn the eccentric 48, the knob 57 is pulledoutwardly against the tension of the spring 61 so as to remove thecollar 58 from the hole 53 in which it may be engaged. When the collar58 is thus shifted the stem '6 can pass from the hole into the next holeor into any one of the holes by being moved through the connecting slots54 as will be readily apparent. This turning of the shaft 46 turns theeccentric 48 so that the link 50 will be moved in the forward directionand rock the plates clockwise to shift the handle bar socket and alsoshift the pressure die in the directions as previously stated. As willbe readily apparent, if the arm 55 is swung from the position in whichit is shown in Figures 1 and 2 to one of the other openings 53, theeccentric will be turned so as to force the link forwardly and cause theplates 20 to likewise force the pressure die 41 rearward to a greaterextent. Thus the degree of curvature or bend given to the tube will beincreased and, when the arm is swung over to the limit of its movementtoward the front of the machine, the pressure die 41 will be shifted toa position where,

upon the forward and downward swinging of the handle bar 37 and socket36, to the position in which it is shown in Figures 1 and 2, the maximumamount of bend will be given to a pipe or tube which has been laidacross the platform 26 in front of the holding dies 32 and behind thepressure die 41.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there is provided by the presentinvention a machine by which the adjustment of the pressure die can bechanged easily and quickly and when the change has been made theoperating eccentric will be locked in place so that the accidentalshifting of the pressure die from the selected set position will nottake place. Also it will be seen that if the knob 57 is set in oneposition for bending a number of tubes or pipes and is then shifted toanother position for bending other pipes, it can be easily brought backto the original position to accurately bend more pipes to the samecurvature as those first formed and thus all possibility of making anerror is avoided.

I claim:

1. In a tube bending machine, a base, two transversely spaced holdingdies pivotally mounted on said base; a pivot shaft mounted transverselyon the base in spaced relation to said dies, an elongate rock membermounted in upright position on said shaft to rock in a vertical planepassing between said dies, a pressure die supported for reciprocatorymovement on said base in said plane for coaction with the holding dies,a socket to receive a rearwardly extending handle bar, a pivot betweensaid member and the top end of said rock member, a link coupling pivotedto and between said rock member and the pressure die in rearwardlyoffset relation with respect to the last named pivot, a second linkhaving one end pivotally coupled to said rock member below the pivotshaft, an eccentric rotatably supported on the base, an eccentric strapcarried by said second link at its other end and encircling theeccentric, an arm operatively coupled with the eccentric for turning thelatter, and means for locking said arm in any one of a number of setpositions.

2. The invention according to claim 1, with a shaft rotatably supportedby the base and extending transversely thereof, said eccentric beingcarried by the last named shaft, said arm being secured at one end tothe last shaft to extend perpendicularly thereto and to turn therewithon the axis of the shaft, an arcuate guide frame concentric with thelast shaft, and said locking means being releasably coupled between thearm and the frame.

3. The invention according to claim 2, wherein said frame is formed of arelatively Wide band of materiai positioned with the width parallelingthe axis of the last named shaft, said frame having a longitudinallyspaced series of circular openings connected together by slots, said armhaving an outer end portion of a diameter to pass through the slots fromone opening to the next upon the turning of the arm with the last namedshaft, and means carried on the said outer end portion of the arm forselective engagement in said circular openings, said last means beingmovable out of the openings to permit the said outer end portion to passthrough the slots.

4. The invention according to claim 2, wherein said frame is formed of arelatively wide band of material positioned with the width parallelingthe axis of the last named shaft, said frame having a longitudinallyspaced series of circular openings connected together by slots, said armhaving an outer end portion of a diameter to pass through the slots fromone opening to the next upon the turning of the arm with the last namedshaft, and a securing means for said arm comprising a knob slidablysupported on said outer end portion and having a collar encircling saidend portion and adapted for selective engagement in said circularopenings, the collar being of a diameter greater than the width of theslots, said knob and collar being slidable outwardly to disengage thecollar from an opening sufiiciently to permit said end portion of thearm to pass through the slots, and spring means urging movement of theknob and collar inward to arm securing position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 96,684Emerson Nov. 9, 1869 479,491 Cowell July 26, 1892 630,484 Brown Aug. 8,1899 1,899,280 Lidseen Feb. 28, 1933 2,382,266 Simonsen Aug. 14, 1945

